Aaron Misenheimer's thoughts on:
Attracting audiences:
Professionally trained musicians may need to rethink the way we do business. Music is not only our art it is our product. In America concert and recital attendance has declined. Orchestras are experiencing bankruptcy and university performances are all too often poorly attended. Are these marketing problems or do we need to adjust our products to modern standards? We are trying to sell concerts of music that is 100, 200, or 300 years old to audiences that are listening to the weekly top 40. Then when we program "new music" it is often something composed in a style from the 1950s. How many people in modern society still listen daily to pop music from 1950? I think one solution is to perform new music that is truly new. We need to seek out pieces that use influences from modern jazz, hip-hop, rock, and pop. This keeps the music fresh and may attract an audience that would not otherwise listen to instrumental or "classical" music. It also puts money in the pockets of living composers. If we do this I think we can expand our audiences. This doesn't mean we have to water down "classical" music and put an end to our art. There is no reason we can't play Bach, Beethoven, and Mozart and have audiences enjoy the experience. First however we need to find a way to bring audiences back to what we do. Once we have their attention and they become interested in the music then they're more likely to explore traditional works. We as professionally trained musicians have done a poor job of marketing our art and of educating consumers. Now we are at a time when we must stop doing business as usual. The other problem is that we are working in an age of information overload. Audiences can tune into the internet and watch a DVD quality recording of an orchestra thousands of miles away while ignoring the professional musicians in their own backyard. We need to find a way to reclaim our local audiences and to promote loyalty to local artists/venues. My answer to this has been to increase educational performances for local audiences and to play audience friendly new music. I don't claim to have the only answer and several orchestras and universities have developed their own. However I think that trained musicians need to address this issue.
The Bass Trombone:
When I tell people I play the bass trombone usually the first reaction is "oh I didn't know there were different types of trombones". Most people don't know that the bass trombone exists, let alone has a different literature from the tenor trombone. They're usually shocked to hear me play because they didn't realize the trombone was capable of being an expressive instrument. Because we sit in the back of the orchestra and rarely get to play concerti most audiences do not realize the instrument is capable of playing a solo role. As bass trombonists we need to educate the public about our instrument. This starts by increasing the number of students playing the instrument. Bass trombonists need to get in front of middle and high school students and let them know the instrument exists. In high school bands usually the worst trombonist is put on the bass trombone parts. We have to change this mentality in high school band directors. Most conductors aren't going to program a bass trombone concerto on an orchestral program. This isn't necessarily a bias against us, it's simply because the audience doesn't know anything about the instrument and that's a big risk for an orchestra. If however we can educate the public about our instrument and create some interest we're much more likely to get concerti performances and have artists with sustainable solo careers. The bass trombone is as capable of being an expressive solo instrument as the trumpet or french horn. What has to change is the audience perception of our instrument. As performers and educators we are responsible for making this change.
New Music:
As the founder of Gold Branch Music I receive scores each week for publication consideration. Much of this music is atonal, too complicated to be performed, or too simplistic to capture an audience. As a publisher I can usually tell within 20 seconds if something is publishable. The criteria: Do I like it? If I don't like it would a general audience? Is it playable? Will it sell? Audiences have similar criteria when buying tickets. I have respect for all types of music, but musicians need to think about what we're offering to audiences as "new music". If the first experience an audience has with new music rubs them the wrong way are they likely to support new music in the future? When I commission pieces from a composer I ask that the pieces be listenable by an average audience. If we're going to bring people to classical music we have to attract them by performing music that they will enjoy and can relate to. That's why I perform works with jazz, rock, and hip-hop influences. Once we have the audience's attention we can slowly introduce more advanced concepts, thereby educating them. Just like most people don't go into first grade and do advanced algebra most people don't go to their first few recitals and come out liking Schoenberg. The other thing I ask is that composers write works that are playable by an advanced college student. Composers and I clash on this because they will send me works that are simply too difficult. If I am performing regularly as a soloist and I think the work is too difficult how many people are going to attempt a performance? We need difficult works approachable by only the top 5% of players and we need music that challenges us as listeners but we also need listenable, playable literature. If the really good composers are only writing music for the top 5% of players or music for only an elite audience, what does this leave the common audience listening to? Music by mediocre composers or music they don't understand? That's not the first impression we want to give.
College/University/Conservatory Music Programs:
If we are to improve concert attendance and create interest in classical music we must start with educational institutions. Applied professors need to ensure there is diversity in student recitals. If we let students program recitals of all Mozart, Schubert, and Chopin we most likely will not attract a new audience. We have to change the way we think about programming literature. College students are the future educators and performers in our profession and if they only play traditional literature we won't attract new audiences. Students must program new works and find ways to attract students from across campus to music events. Say we educate 50 math majors about music. Those 50 math majors graduate and within a few years get married and have two children. Because we cultivated their interest in music they take their family to see the local symphony. We just created 200 new audience members by cultivating 50 people. College and universities historically teach students how to perform and teach but not how to do the business end of music. This is unfortunately the area we need the most. Students must receive an education in marketing and business as they relate to music. This is imperative not only to music industry or music business majors but to music education and music performance majors. If a new band director doesn't know how to recruit for his high school band how will he ever increase his enrollment? How will a bass trombonist find work if there are no orchestra jobs and he doesn't know how to promote himself? These are issues colleges, universities, and conservatories must consider if their students are to be highly successful.